Can’t stay away from Kellyoke? Understandable, and luckily, you don’t have to. Kelly Clarkson dropped her newest Kelly Clarkson Show live cover on Monday (Feb. 27), this time, singing Muna‘s “Stayaway,” for you to come back and dance to as many times as you like — just don’t go texting your toxic ex.
The three-time Grammy winner spent the performance under a wash of aptly melancholy blue lighting, passionately singing Muna’s straight-shooting lyrics about the struggles of keeping your distance from a past relationship when everything reminds you of your former partner. “If I see my old friends, we’ll go out dancing/ If we go out dancing, then we’ll go to the bar,” Clarkson sang. “If we go to the bar, then there’s gonna be drinking/ If I drink, I wanna see where you are.”
“No one ever told me leaving was the easy part/ I gotta stay away,” she continued, her voice growing more and more intense with each line. “Leaving you was easy, now I gotta do what’s hard/ I gotta stay away.”
“no way!!!!!” the band tweeted Monday after seeing Clarkson’s tribute. “so honored, wow.”
The electro-pop rock anthem was released in 2019 as a single off Muna’s sophomore album Saves The World, which has since been followed up by the Los Angeles trio’s self-titled third album. Comprised of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson, the band signed to Phoebe Bridgers’ label Saddest Factory Records in 2021 and will join their label-owner on the road this year, both serving as openers for dates on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Watch Kelly Clarkson perform Muna’s “Stayaway” on The Kelly Clarkson Show in the video above.